'A part of me left with them' — Stoughton High mourns 4 teens killed in crash

Joe Pelletier The Enterprise jdpelletier_ENT

Sunday

May 20, 2018 at 11:52 AMMay 21, 2018 at 5:16 PM

Four Stoughton High students were killed and a fifth is hospitalized after a horrific, high-speed crash in East Bridgewater.

STOUGHTON — David Bell and Nick Joyce should have been boarding the buses Sunday morning.

The Stoughton High School juniors had their conference championship track meet at Canton, and both Bell, an energetic high jumper with a devilish smile, and Joyce, a cerebral sprinter, were poised for personal bests.

But they weren’t there. And in their place, lingering thickly among the coaches and athletes standing outside the Stoughton gymnasium, was grief and despair.

Bell and Joyce were among four teenagers killed Saturday night in a violent single-car crash in East Bridgewater, along with friends Eric Sarblah and Christopher Desir.

All four were students at Stoughton High School.

News of their unexpected deaths rocked the Stoughton community Sunday morning, reverberating its way across the Brockton area with friends, teammates, family and even strangers mourning four lives gone too soon.

“A part of me left with them,” said Stoughton senior Matt Hadley, a football teammate to Bell and Joyce. “It’s surreal — it doesn’t feel real.”

Track athletes, still raw from the news of the deaths of Bell and Joyce, were advised to arrive early at the school Sunday morning before their conference meet. It was a solemn procession of teenagers, each individual greeted tearfully and embraced by coaches and teammates. The Hockomock Conference championships would go on, and the buses would still run.

The team met for about 15 minutes inside the school before boarding the buses and heading north to Canton High School.

Burke and Hadley, football teammates to Bell and Joyce, painted a picture of a lovable pair. Bell, 17, was a high-energy, high-spirited figure. Joyce, 16, was the quiet one — intense, and a speedy sprinter.

“I had class with David — he’d walk in every day and do some crazy dance moves,” Burke said. “David was a great person. He was going to do big things in life. I miss him to death.”

Burke called Joyce a “little brother,” one who was excited for Sunday’s meet.

“He’s supposed to be here today,” Burke said. “He wanted to be here so bad.”

Desir, 17, had only recently transferred to Stoughton after attending Brockton schools.

Burke said the four students, along with the injured driver, were returning from playing paintball in Bridgewater when the accident occurred. Police were called to Route 106 in East Bridgewater about 4 p.m., discovering a white sedan mangled against a tree near the intersection with Laurel Street.

Fire crews used multiple sets of the Jaws of Life tools in an attempt to extricate the victims. Three were pronounced dead at the scene, and a fourth was transported to Signature Healthcare Brockton Hospital, then pronounced dead.

Stoughton Superintendent Marguerite Rizzi called the situation “the worst nightmare” for any school administrator.

"This is a devastating occasion for any community, any school," she said at a Sunday morning press conference.

She said school would go Monday, but said she does "not anticipate we will have a normal day."

"But it is important for students to have their routines if they want and need them," she said.

All of the district's counselors will be on hand to assist students, she said, and outlying school districts have also offered the help of their counseling staff.

"This is not the kind of thing you heal from quickly," she said. "Recovery is long. We will be available for everyone who needs us for as long as they need us."

Stoughton High School also faced a tragic student death in 2012, when senior David Wade was accidentally shot in the chest by his 21-year-old brother.

Rizzi spoke to media outside the school Sunday, flanked by Stoughton High School Principal Juliette Miller, School Committee Chairwoman Molly Cochran, Police Chief Donna McNamara and school officials.

McNamara, a Stoughton High School graduate, said the department “shed black and orange tears” Sunday, referring to the school colors.

“This loss is simply unfathomable,” she said.

Sunday evening, students gathered at both Grace Church in Avon and St. James Church in Stoughton to mourn.

"It is important for families to go home and hug each other a little tighter," said Chaneika Polk, the outreach director at Grace Church and a volleyball coach at Stoughton High School. "To care for each other a little more."

Enterprise Staff Reporter Joe Pelletier can be reached at jpelletier@enterprisenews.com

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